Cap for valve tubes



GAP FOR VALVE TUBES.

' A P P L C A T l Q N F L E D APR. 1 I 1 9 2 Z.

Reissued May 23, 1922. 15,359.

13 I////// m I i ,2 #22 l7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID E. cox, or ROSELLE, NEW JERSEY.

CAP FOB VALVE TUBES.

in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Caps for Valve Tubes, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensiveemergency cap or closure for use in excluding dust and dirt from valvetubes such as are universally employed in connection with pneumatictires for vehicle wheels, and for effectually preventing the leakage ofair from the tubes in the event that the valves are insecirrely seated.

It is a matter of more or less common experience that the capsordinarily employed for valve tubes become loosened and displaced, andhence lost by the jarring or vibration of the vehicle wheels, or aremisplaced when they are removed to replace a tire or to inflate thesame, and it is the primary purpose of the invention to provide asubstitute which can be placed on the market at a low cost and of whichseveral may be kept for emergency in the tool kit for use when required;and furthermore it is an object to provide a device for the purposeindicated which is adapted to eflectually engage and accurately fit, anyvalve tube and to adapt itself to any peculiarity of the thread of thetube so as to constitute an effectual means for excluding dust andretaining pressure in the tube.

With these and related objects in view the invention consists in aconstruction and combination of parts of which a preferred form is shownin the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a View of the cap applied to a valve tube.

Fig. 2 is a section of the same.

Fig. 3 is an inner side view, partly broken away.

Fig. 4 is a section of the cap before it is applied to the tube.

Figs. 5 and 6 show modifications of the The cap is preferablyconstructed of wood, or like material which is relatively soft andcheap, and is also conveniently made in a generally spherical form, withthe body 10 provided with a central seat 11 which is accessible througha radial bore or channel 12.

Specification of Reissued Letters Patent. Iieissued May 23, 1922Original No. 1,392,746, dated October 4, 1921, Serial No. 456,073, filedMarch 28, 1921.

reissue filed April 11, 1922.

Application for, Serial No. 551,661.

The seat may be spherical, as shown, or of any other form which maybereadily produced by a counter boring tool inserted through the radialbore or channel, and is of a slightly largerdiameter than the inner endof the bore, so that an elastic or compressible cushion or ball 13, ofrubber or like material, which may be forced through the bore or channel12 will expand in the seat and be locked against accidental displacementwhile free to be compressed by an object inserted through the bore.

The bore is preferably tapered from its outer toward its inner end, oris reduced in diameter inwardly, and is also preferably smooth surfaced,the outer, or inlet, end of the bore being of a diameter to readilyreceive the end of any commercial valve tube 14.

In applying the cap to a valve tube it is fitted thereover, and whilebeing held firmly is turned in the direction of the head of the threadon the tube, thereby causing the thread of the tube to cut acomplemental thread in the bore of the cap until the end of the tube isfirmly andcompressively seated upon the elastic cushion or ball, whichis free to turn in its seat and therefore may be held by the tube as thecap is further rotated to secure a firm engagement.

' A cap so constructed may be removed and replaced repeatedly and willserve indefinitely as an effective substitute forthe ordinary cap, andin practice will be found of special utility in View of the fact thatmutilation of the thread of the valve tube will not detract from theefliciency of the cap or prevent it from acting to exclude dust andprevent all leakage of air pressure through the tube. It will performits designated function even when the valve tube is mutilated anddistorted to such an extent as to render the ordinary tube cap utterlyuseless.

In Fig. 5 the cushion 13 is of plain con vex form held in place by aspur shank or tack 15, engaging the body 10*, and in Fig. 6 the cushion13 is integral with the body 10 of the cap.

What is claimed:

1. A cap for tire valve tubes constructed of a material having a lowercoefiicient of hardness than the tube and provided with a smoothsurfaced bore provided at its inner end with a yielding cushion to forma seat for the end of a valve tube.

2. A cap for tire valve tubes constructed a lower coefiicient of endwith a yielding cushion to form a seat for the end of a valve tube, thebore being inwardly tapered.

3. A cap for tire valve tubes constructed of a material having a lowercoefiicient of hardness than the tube and provided with a smoothsurfaced bore provided at its inner end with a yielding cushion to forma seat for the end of a valve tube, the bore being inwardly tapered andthe cushion being fitted in acounter bored seat.

4. A cap for tire valve tubes consisting of a spherical block of woodhaving an inof which is seated a rubber cushion.

5. A cap for tire valve tubes consisting of a spherical block of woodhaving an inwardly tapered radial bore at the inner end of whlch isseated a rubber cushion of sphericaltform revolubly fitted in acounterbored sea 6. A cap for tire valve tubes having a tube receivingbore at the inner end of which 1s seated a rubber cushion of sphericalform. 7 A cap for tire valve tubes having a tube receiving bore at theinner end of which is seated a rubber cushion of spherical formrevolubly fitted in a counter-bored seat.

DAVID H; cox.

